The US Senate voted to detain US citizens indefinitely without any trial. A citizen now can be detained for life just based on suspicion without even ever being charged, without the benefit of a lawyer or a trial. Here is what ACLU said last night:

“The bill is an historic threat to American citizens and others because it expands and makes permanent the authority of the president to order the military to imprison without charge or trial American citizens.”

The Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the FBI, the Director of the CIA and the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division have all said that the indefinite detention provisions are harmful and counterproductive to their work.

There are two more chances to stop this from becoming the law

If the President is under enough pressure he might fulfill his vague promise to veto it.

At the House-Senate conference next week, the House & Senate teams may drop this provision from the bill, a remote chance.

What to say: Ask your senators & representatives to ask President Obama to veto the bill as he promised. Ask them to restore the due process of law as war in Iraq and Afghanistan are ending. No one should be detained without a charge, without benefit of a lawyer and a fair trial.